The Veil Ever Thinning
by ForeverShippingJohnlock
Summary: As the Phantomhive manor prepares for a Halloween ball, Ciel is given a gift with dire consequences. Consequences that even Sebastian might not be able to get him out of.


The Veil Ever Thinning

The night is All Hallow's Eve and Sebastian is diligently finalizing the details of tonight's ball to be held at the Phantomhive manor (much to its namesake's chagrin). Sebastian is currently in the entrance hall, making sure all of the decorations are in order. He suddenly hears a bored voice from behind him.

"Remind me why I've agreed to a ball?" Ciel asks, making his way down the grand staircase.

"As I seem to recall, young lord, it was less you agreeing to a ball and more Lady Elizabeth informing you of the fact."

"Speaking of which, when is she arriving anyway?"

"Any minute now, sir."

Elizabeth insisted on coming early in order to visit with her fiancé before the party, and no doubt to make sure the decor was up to her standards of all that is cute and adorable. As if on cue, the door bursts open, revealing an excited Elizabeth and her ever-cheery maid, Paula.

"Elizabeth, it's a pleasure to see- _ouff._ " Ciel is nearly knocked off of his feet by the sheer force of the hug his fiancé greets him with. After a moment, she leans back, positively beaming from ear to ear.

"Oh, Ciel, it's _ever_ so lovely to see you! I simply can't wait for the ball tonight!" Elizabeth gushes.

"Lady Elizabeth, always a pleasure," Sebastian politely intones from behind them with a slight bow.

"Hello, Sebastian," she replies sweetly. Her smile quickly turns to a slight frown as she regards the decorations. "Oh no, this will never do! Skulls and cobwebs? Those aren't cute at all! Much too scary for a party."

Sebastian just manages to hold in a world-weary sigh, a skill he has been forced to constantly hone these last few years, and pastes on a patient smile. "My lady, tonight is Halloween, a celebration of the dead. 'Scary', if I may be so bold as to say so, is rather the point."

Elizabeth pouts before opening her mouth to reply, but Paula gets there first. "Miss, don't you have something you'd like to show the young lord?"

Elizabeth immediately brightens, "Oh, yes! Of course!"

Paula begins to search through the bag she's carrying, producing from its shallow depths a small black box, wrapped with a blue bow. She gives it to Elizabeth and she hands it proudly to Ciel.

"I got you a present!" she says, as if that isn't already glaringly obvious.

"You needn't have done that," Ciel replies. Sebastian valiantly fights a smirk; from anyone else, the phrase would have sounded like a humble compliment, but from Ciel's lips, it sounds like a simple statement of fact in an almost chiding tone. If Elizabeth notices this, she ignores it and steamrolls on.

"I know, silly, but I wanted to! Open it," she demands. Ciel sighs and tugs on a strand of ribbon in one fluid motion, making the rest fall away. He opens the box and raises his eyebrows slightly in genuine surprise.

In the box lies a ring. Its band is wide and crafted in alternating shades of black and silver, with eloquent designs in the metal. The stone is a large rectangle of a deep rose hue. Sebastian notices right away that it bears a very strong resemblance to Ciel's father's ring.

Everyone is silent as they stare at the extravagant gift. Soon, though, Elizabeth cannot take the suspense.

"Do you like it?" she asks, "I saw it in the window of this odd little shop in town, and I said to Paula, 'Ciel simply must have that ring!' Didn't I, Paula?"

Paula nods cheerfully at this. Ciel, however, is unmoved and goes to hand the box back. "I really can't accept this."

Elizabeth looks shocked, as if out of all the outcomes, this is the one she hadn't accounted for. "But..." she starts, her lip wobbling just slightly, and Sebastian braces himself for one of Elizabeth's outbursts, with Ciel visibly doing the same. Surprisingly, though, her shoulders just sag and she lets out a sigh. "It's too much, isn't it? I just thought… Well, you have your other rings to remember your family, and I thought maybe when you looked at this one, you could think of me. Silly, really. I'm sorry, Ciel."

Sebastian watches as Ciel regards Elizabeth's avoiding gaze and the ring still tucked neatly into its box. Then, as he knows a gentleman should, Ciel smiles and speaks, in a kinder tone than before.

"No apologies are necessary. It… was a lovely thought. It really is a splendid ring, and I shall think of you when I look at the colour you are so fond of. Thank you, Lizzy."

It's all Sebastian can do to hold in a laugh at the absolute absurdity of it all. The Bard himself could produce no better actor than that of Ciel Phantomhive. All the right words, all the right emotions – Ciel was a puppeteer who knew what strings to pull, and Lady Elizabeth was the unwitting marionette. To bookend his fantastically hollow words, Ciel hands the now empty box to Sebastian and slips the jewelry onto the ring finger of his right hand, beside where his family crest lies.

The moment the ring touches his skin, Ciel's back snaps ramrod straight for a fraction of a second, before relaxing again, more so than before. Ciel's smile grows wider as he takes Elizabeth's hand in his, and to Sebastian's surprise, kisses it. Ciel's eyes never once leave hers, and Elizabeth's face flushes.

"You'll save me a few dances tonight, won't you, my lady?" he asks. There's something new in his voice, in the curl of his smile, that Sebastian does not recognize. He's not used to such uncertainty, and he's immediately on his guard.

"O-of course!" Elizabeth stammers, completely thrown off by her fiancé's uncharacteristic enthusiasm for dancing. Ciel nods, finally letting go of her hand.

"Sebastian? See to it that Lizzy is appeased with tonight's preparations. I have some work that needs tending to," Ciel commands. He smirks at Sebastian, knowing full well the near impossible task that he has set out for the demon butler. The look makes Sebastian feel slightly at ease, though; this is more like the Ciel he knows.

"Certainly, sir," he replies, before turning his attention to Lady Elizabeth.

Sebastian watches out of his peripherals as Ciel once more ascends the staircase. He feels wary, but he tries to shake off the feeling for now and focus on the task at hand.

"Now, Sebastian, we really must do something about these decorations…"

* * *

A few hours later finds Sebastian welcoming guests into the Phantomhive manor, announcing each to the surrounding party. They all convene in the front hall, nursing refreshments, before moving into the main ballroom so the festivities can begin.

Sebastian regards Ciel throughout the night with unwavering focus, even as his various duties as head butler keep trying to take him away. And what kind of butler would he be if he couldn't do two things at once?

He watches carefully as Ciel makes potential investors laugh at his jokes and charms their wives. He watches as Ciel sweeps Elizabeth off her feet during the several dances they dance together. He watches as Ciel grins instead of grimaces. And, by the end of the night, Sebastian knows one thing for certain.

The person he spent all night watching is not Ciel Phantomhive.

Now that he has this information, he has to figure out what to do with it. Whoever – or whatever – is currently parading around in his master's skin may be dangerous, and there are simply too many people here to do anything about it. Not that he gives one whit for casualties, of course, but he knows that if the real Ciel were here, that he would want this taken care of quickly and quietly.

And besides that, Sebastian has just waxed this floor today; all that blood would surely ruin the sparkling finish.

So, with all that in mind, Sebastian waits for a chance to get him alone. The chance does not come until all the guests – including Elizabeth – have left, sleepy and sore-footed. Sebastian and "Ciel" walk upstairs to his master's bedroom to begin their nightly routine. The moment Sebastian closes the door behind him, however, he has the imposter shoved up against a wall, his hand closed around his throat.

"Excuse me, but I don't believe we've met," Sebastian says, eerily calm.

Ciel's eyes are wide and frightened, "S-Sebastian! What do you mean? It's me, Ciel!"

Sebastian chuckles. If nothing else gave them away, it would be that. Ciel would not rely on his oh-so-human impulses of fear and desperation. If this were the real Ciel, he would look directly into Sebastian's eyes and _dare_ him to do something.

"No, I don't think so," Sebastian replies.

Ciel looks at him a moment with that same terrified expression, before it melts away into a mischievous grin.

"Laid it on too thick, didn't I? I couldn't help it; it was so much _fun._ Being trapped inside a ring is terribly boring, you know," the imposter says lightly, and his eyes change from blue to deep crimson.

"You're a demon?" Sebastian asks, incredulous.

"More so than you, apparently. You go by Sebastian these days, right? Named after a _dog._ You're a disgrace."

Sebastian's glare darkens, and would wither any mortal man, but the demon just keeps on smiling. "Get out of him. _Now,_ " Sebastian threatens in a low voice.

"Or what? Come on, Sebastian, you're barely even _squeezing._ Go on, show me something. Impress me."

Sebastian looks into the face that belongs to his master and the expression on it that doesn't, and knows he's already lost. He simply cannot harm the vessel of the soul he so craves. The demon apparently sees that and laughs, a shrill, piercing sound.

"Yes, that's what I thought."

The demon flicks his fingers, and suddenly Sebastian is flying across the room. His head slams against the opposite wall with enough force to have immediately killed him, had he been human. As it is, he's mostly unaffected. The moment he goes to move, though, he finds himself pinned in place. He thrashes against the power holding him there, unused to feeling so helpless and really, really not liking it.

The demon stretches a little and leisurely makes his way over to him, standing right in front of Sebastian with his arms held behind his back. He looks at Sebastian's struggling form as if he's a particularly interesting piece at an art exhibit.

"How," Sebastian grits through his teeth.

"I guess you could say… I'm just very, _very_ old. Far older than you, _boy,_ " the demon replies, deadly serious. There's something dark and foreboding and _ancient_ in his voice, and for the first time in his existence, Sebastian is afraid.

"What do you want from us?" Sebastian demands. The demon laughs again, the same strange, unsettling sound.

"No, no, you see, you're making the mistake of thinking you're important. That you matter. That this was all part of some grand design, but you know what? Pure coincidence. Funny how things work out sometimes, isn't it?"

The demon seems as if he's waiting for a response, and Sebastian doesn't give it. The demon continues, "Oh, don't go silent on me now! The fun was just beginning! I have so many questions for you, Sebastian. The most prevalent of which, why him? Why Ciel Phantomhive? What could this brat possibly have to offer?"

Sebastian says nothing. The demon lets his guise slip for just a moment, revealing his frustration, but just as quickly has it back up again as a thought seems to strike him.

"Actually, I think the young Phantomhive can answer that last question for us. It's all up here, you know." The demon puts a finger to his temple and closes his eyes for dramatic effect. He makes a whistle sound. "Yes, there are things he'd be willing to offer, all right. The things he thinks about you… Scandalous. Just this morning, even, he was thinking about how it would feel to-"

"Enough," Sebastian interrupts, surprising even himself.

The demon arcs an eyebrow, "Oh? Struck a nerve, have I? I do wonder… Is little Ciel alone in such thoughts? Where does your mind wander when the lights go out, Sebastian Michaelis? Hm? What is it you really care about here, body or soul?"

Sebastian says nothing, but to the demon, apparently saying nothing is as good as saying it all.

"Ah, I see. Both, is it? Interesting. Pathetic, of course, but interesting." Sebastian can see the plan forming in the demon's head, even before his next words. "Let's test the limits of that regard, shall we?"

Sebastian is horror-struck when he feels the contract seal come alive. It's not the foreshadowing of pain that makes him uncomfortable, but rather the feel of the bond between he and Ciel. The contract seal that connects them, the energy of it right now between the two thrums sullied and _wrong._

Sebastian's rage is blinding and white hot, even before the demon leans in and whispers, "And just so you know? He'll be able to feel every second of this."

Sebastian lets out a growl, an almost roar of complete fury. Ciel's pain is _his_ to inflict when the time comes, _his_ to write and carve onto Ciel's soul as requested.

The demon's smile never falters, even as he raises Ciel's hand and promptly breaks his own finger in one swift movement.

Sebastian grunts in pain, feeling it acutely through the open connection of the contract.

One finger is followed by two more on the same hand, each snapping with the sickening crunch of bone and cartilage sliding together in ways they aren't supposed to. The smile never leaves the demon's face, and it only gets wider. He never breaks eye contact with Sebastian, not even to blink.

He lowers the disfigured hand and brings up the other one. Sebastian is expecting a repeat performance, but the demon just hikes up his sleeve.

"Such beautiful skin. Untouched by sun or blemish. Not even a scar to mar such perfection," he says before raising the unbroken hand and putting it against the forearm. He makes a claw with his hand, and rakes his nails across the skin there, slow and deep. Sebastian winces as he watches the skin come away, blood welling immediately in its absence. He lowers the arm and the blood trickles down his hand onto the carpet in steady drips.

The demon suddenly has a petulant expression and speaks, "I'm getting rather bored. Why don't we make this more interesting?"

The moment he finishes saying that, Sebastian feels whatever force keeping him in place fall away. Sebastian immediately leaps into action, faster than the human mind can possibly comprehend. His gaze zeroes in on the shining pink ring; he'll cut the finger off if he has to. Just as he's about to reach him, though, Sebastian feels an intense pressure against the back of his head before his world fades to black.

* * *

Sebastian wakes up with a start. He sits up in bed and surveys the room, surprised to find that it's his own. It takes him a moment to piece everything together, before he's running to Ciel's bedroom. He throws open the door and-

Ciel lies there in bed, tucked in, nightshirt and all, sound asleep with his back facing Sebastian. Sebastian can only stand there, trying to work everything out.

Everything from before, that _had_ happened… Hadn't it?

But then, if it had, why is he still alive?

Sebastian is struck with the sudden ridiculous notion that it was all a dream. Demons only sleep as a luxury – one Sebastian indulges on occasion – and very rarely do they dream, but it's not necessarily unheard of.

Sebastian listens to Ciel's steady breathing for a moment, before turning to leave the room. Just as he's in the doorway, however, he spots something out of his peripherals. Sebastian slowly turns around and approaches, leaning down to better examine it.

There, on the carpet by the foot of Ciel's bed, is several drops of dried blood.

The blood that had dripped from Ciel's torn open arm.

Sebastian snaps to attention and turns, only to be inches away from a grinning face with red eyes, and bent, crooked fingers reaching for him.

A dark rose ring glistening in the moonlight.


End file.
